Prelude

"Mother, look at this strange rock I found!"

A beaming and ecstatic young boy held up a rock in the air, showing it to a woman who gazed at him with loving eyes. 

"Isn't it awesome?"

"It's wonderful, Pelen," his mother praised him with a gentle and warm smile, perching herself outside her little hut while she watched her son play in the dirt. "Why don't you show it to your friends?"

She watched him running over to his friends who were playing on the outskirts of the Panimurau Village, relaxing after a tiring day of picking herbs from the forest that covered the village. It wasn't easy picking herbs from a forest known to harbor a few Apprentice-level beasts and monsters. It took a whole day's labor just to make a day's living to feed her children and herself.